Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the United States with over 157,000 deaths projected in 2010 (1). The more common type of lung cancer, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), accounts for 85% of cases and carries a grim prognosis with approximately 70% of patients presenting with advanced and often incurable disease at the time of diagnosis (2).
Despite these statistics a great deal of progress has been made in the targeted treatment of patients with NSCLC, largely due to the development of small molecule inhibitors of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase (3-5). Patients who respond to EGFR kinase inhibitors are much more likely to have the adenocarcinoma subtype of NSCLC (6). Patients with the other principal subtype of NSCLC, lung squamous cell cancer (lung SCC), very rarely respond to these agents and few advances have been made in the treatment of this type of lung cancer which comprises 25% of NSCLC. In addition to EGFR, several other promising therapeutic targets have been identified in the laboratory such as EML4-ALK, KRAS and MET; drugs directed against these proteins are being tested in clinical trials (7-10). However, it appears that these targets are likely limited to adenocarcinomas as well. A recent report has suggested that targeting FGFR1 amplifications in SCC of the lung may be a promising therapeutic strategy, though FGFR inhibitors are not currently in clinical use for the treatment of patients with lung cancer (11).